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Education Minister says Council must be allowed to resolve dispute at USP, backs Samoa’s call in support of Vice Chancellor

By
Philip Cass
-

Tonga’s Education Minister says a special online council meeting may be called to resolve the ongoing dispute at USP.

Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni said he hoped “common sense” would prevail.

In a letter to Pro-Vice Chancellor Winston Thompson posted on the Facebook page of veteran Pacific affairs reporter Michael Field, who has been covering the saga, Hon. Sovaleni criticises Thompson for his “antagonistic attitude towards the Vice Chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

“The quarreling  between the Pro Vice Chancellor and Vice Chancellor must end immediately as the [University] Council demands professional behaviour and responsible leadership and management at all times,” Hon. Sovaleni wrote.

The Minister said the Vice Chancellor was responsible to the University Council.

“The Council is therefore duty bound to ensure that it provides and fosters an environment that is conducive to strong leadership and management and high morale for all persons in the employment of the University, including the VCP.”

The Minister said Tonga strongly supported the position of the Samoan Minister of Education to cease the investigation against the VC.

He told Thompson the current situation was “an untimely and ill-conceived attempt to force [the Council] to make impulsive decisions.”

He said the Council was hampered  by being unable to convene a Council meeting because of the ravel restrictions imposed  by the Covid-19 epidemic.

As Kaniva News reported this week, Tonga is one of the Pacific Island nations which has come out in support of Professor Ahluwalia, who commissioned a report which uncovered highly questionable payment and management practices at the regional university, which is based in Suva.

The report, by accountants BDO, found multiple breaches of policy had led to questionable payments worth millions of dollars.

Field said documents also existed relating to an ongoing scandal over allegations that some staff had demanded sex in return for good grades.

Pro-Vice Chancellor Thompson, backed by Fijian interests, has had Professor Ahluwalia suspended and appointed Professor Derreck Armstrong as Acting Vice Chancellor.

Armstrong is one of the USP staff named in the report.

Australia has suspended aid to USP until the university is cleaned up.

The main points

  • Tonga’s Education Minister says a special council meeting may be called to resolve the ongoing dispute at USP.
  • Siaosi Sovaleni said he hoped “common sense” would prevail.

For more information

USP staff took millions of dollars in questionable payments;  policy breaches rife says secret accountants report

Secret report reveals widespread salary and allowance rorts at USP

Government U-turn over decision to bury Fiji-Vava‘u deceased  in Tongatapu

By
Kalino Latu
-

The Tu’i’onetoa government has reversed a controversial decision to bury a Vava’u deceased in Tongatapu after strong reactions from the public and a request from her family.

The deceased, Natania Camellia Sanft, died in Fiji but since Tonga declared a national lockdown starting in March her body was held in the neighbouring country weeks after her death.

Sanft’s body had been finally repatriated early this week by His Majesty’s Armed Forces to Nuku’alofa.

Her parents, who were with her in Fiji studying under a Tonga government scholarship prgramme, weren’t allowed to travel with her body because of the Covid-19 restrictions.

The Minister of Health announced the deceased would be taken and buried by relatives in Tongatapu and not in her hometown Tu’anekivale in Vava’u.

The Minister reportedly said the decision was made according to the law which says the only borders allowed for vessels and aircraft from overseas during the Covid-19 lockdown were Fua’amotu in Tongatapu and capital Nuku’alofa.

However, the government went back on its decision and said in a press conference yesterday the deceased’s body will be returned and buried in Vava’u next week.

It said the gathering restrictions for funeral services still stood and the bereaved families were not allowed to mour​n their dead.

Sanft’s funeral services would be all handled by government officials, it said.

The decisions met with mixed reactions from the public online.

Critics asked why the Voea Neiafu did not stop in Vava’u on its way back from Fiji to allow the deceased’s immediate family there to take her body home.

A number of critics said they felt for the deceased’s parents and that the government should have allowed them to bring their daughter home.

Some described the decisions as heart of stone.

However, a number of commenters said the Minister has made the right decision to protect the country as a whole from Covid-19.

Online register open for Tongans who want to fly home, but other restrictions remain in force

By
Kaniva Staff
-

An online register has been set up for Tongans stranded overseas who want to fly home.

Only Tongan passport holders, valid residency visa holders, valid working visa holders, and international travellers as approved by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be boarded on such flights and granted entry into Tonga.

All travellers are required to have undertaken a COVID-19 test and a Medical Report done within three days before arriving in Tonga.

While Tonga’s State of Emergency has been extended until July 8, aviation restrictions have been eased for a flight of returnees.

Tonga’s borders remain closed to passenger flights until September 12, but a group of 50 Tongans who have been stranded in New Zealand will be flown home next week, local reports said.

The government regards the flight as a test case.

The first passenger repatriation flight will leave from Auckland on June 16.

If the repatriation works, there will be another flight.

Travellers will have to pay for their CoViD-19 tests before leaving New Zealand.

Passengers on the return flight will be quarantined at the government’s expense at the Tanoa hotel.

Tonga remains free of the coronavirus.

The existing Flight Diversion Order ended today, but has been renewed until September 12. The order affects flights from Fiji, New Zealand and Samoa.

Samoa

Meanwhile, Samoa, which is also virus free, began repatriation flights from Auckland on May 29, with a further flight this week  and others scheduled for June 26 and July 9 and 23.

All passengers will need to take a Covid-19 test three days before travel and have to carry proof of a negative result. They are also required to hold a medical certificate advising fitness to fly and show no symptoms of illness.

On arrival in Samoa, all passengers will be required to enter a 14-day quarantine.

“Will England punish poor Tonga?” King Tupou II and the 1900 Treaty of Friendship

By
Philip Cass
-

This is the second of our articles marking Emancipation Day.

On May 7, 1900, King Tupou II wrote to the Special British Commissioner agent in Tonga, Basil Thomson.

“I desire,” the king wrote, “to know how treaties are made by the great Governments of the world, especially England.

“First. Are Treaties made when two Governments are of the same mind, or only when it is the mind of the stronger of the two?

Second. If a great and powerful State wishes to make a Treaty with a small and weak State, is it right that the small and weak State should be punished by the strong State because it does not wish to make the Treaty?

Third. Does a great and powerful State seek occasion to quarrel with a weak State for seeing that a portion of its powers will be taken away from it by a Treaty?

Fourth. Will England punish poor Tonga for wishing to keep the existing Treaty of Friendship she made with England?

I send my love.

Your affectionate friend,

Tupou II.”

Less than a fortnight later, Thomson, accompanied by a 50 strong guard, marched into  Mala’e Pangai, the main square of Nuku’alofa and proclaimed a protectorate.

Britain wanted the king to sign a new treaty handing over control of Tonga’s foreign relations and to put Europeans under the jurisdiction of a British court. It also wanted exclusive rights to establish coaling stations in the harbours of Vava’u and Tongatapu and the right to build a fort.

The Colonial Office was keen not to give any formal pledges that Britain would not annexed the kingdom.

Thomson was ordered to find out how the king was likely to react to a direct takeover and whether there would be active resistance.

Tupou II had ascended the throne when he was only 18 and found himself surrounded  by hostile chiefs, under constant pressure from palagi traders seeking privileges and trying to deal with the effects of drought and cyclones at the end of the 19th century.  The kingdom’s finances were unsettled and the government had borrowed £500 loan from the German firm Deutsche Handel’s und Plantagen-Gesellschaft.

Tupou II  had ruled for eight years when Thomson arrived. He made it clear that he believed Tonga should remain independent and rejected the draft treaty that Thomson presented.

Thomson warned Tupou II that Britain would regard any rejection of the treaty as hostile and take action. He told the king that if he signed the treaty Britain would recognise him as ruler in the event of civil disturbance. However, he made no promise to keep Tupou II on the throne.

Tupou II would not sign unless the restrictions on the conduct of  foreign relations were removed. Thomson blamed the King’s renewed resistance on Fr Father Oliert the acting head of the French Roman Catholic mission, who, he claimed, wanted to make Tonga  French protectorate.

Thomson reluctantly agreed to modify the treaty and remove the offending sections. The replacement section was meant to strengthen independence.

Tupou II appeared to have prevented a protectorate and kept control of his own foreign relations, but Thomson would not give up. Thwarted by the king, he decided to go ahead and proclaim a protectorate anyway.

On May 19 Thomson and an escort of 50 armed men marched to the palace, rebuked the king and made more threats. Accompanied by other British officials and his escort, he marched to the square and read out his proclamation in English and Tongan:

“Whereas His Majesty the King of Tonga has been pleased to sign an Agreement, dated the 2nd May, 1900, and a Treaty, dated the 18th May, 1900, wherein he agrees that his relations with foreign Powers shall be conducted under the sole advice of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government, and that her Majesty shall protect his dominions from external hostile attacks, it is hereby proclaimed that a Protectorate by Her Britannic Majesty has been established accordingly.”

Two years later, in his book Savage Island: an account of a sojourn in Niué and Tonga, Thomson declared: “For political, strategic and geographical reasons England could not afford to tolerate a foreign Power in possession of the best harbor in the Pacific islands within striking distance of Fiji . . . . the Germans had ceded all their treaty rights to us, we had either to take what was given to us, or leave the field open to others. In extending our protection, therefore, to the Tongans we were serving their interests even more than our own.”

Unsurprisingly, King Tupou II took a different view. He noted that at least Thomson had  not raised the British flag over Tonga, but wrote sadly: “Our  minds are stirred at the thought of our land being taken by one of the Great Powers . . . for our land could not be justly seized for having wronged any State, or for having broken any Treaty, but only for having wished to keep ourselves independent.”

For more information

Penelope Lavaka. The Limits of Advice. Britain and the Kingdom of Tonga 1900-1970. PhD thesis. Australian National University, 1981.

Amanda Lee (2019) Tau: A brief history of the Tongan military from the late nineteenth century to the present. MA thesis. University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2019.

Fakamatala faka-Tonga:

Ko e ‘ātikolo ‘eni hono ua ‘a e Kaniva’ he uike’ ni ‘i hono  fakamanatu e uike ‘o e ta’u’atāina ‘a Tonga mei Pilitānia’. ‘Oku taukave foki ha ni’ihi ‘i he fo’i hisitōlia faka-Tonga  pehē na’e ‘ikai pule’i ‘e Pilitānia ‘a Tonga ko e malu’i pē ko ā. Ko e fo’i fananga ia ne toutou malanga’i ‘e he kau pukepuke fonua’ ki he hako tupu’ tautefito hili e tau’atāina’ he 1970 ke ‘oua na’a nau ‘ilo ki he pango ko ia na’e hoko’ i he kuonga e pule ‘a e Tu’i II. Ko e hisitōlia ko ‘eni ne ‘osi  lekooti maau ia ‘e Pilitānia pea ‘oku tauhi ia ‘i he ngaahi ‘univēsiti lahi pea mo e ‘Emipasī ‘a Pilitānia ‘i Fisi’. Kuo ma’u ‘e he Kaniva ‘a e pepa ko ia’ pea ‘e hokohoko atu heni ‘a hono fakamatala’i’ ‘o e lekooti ko ia’. Ko e fo’i lea ko e protectorate ‘a ia ne ngāue’aki ki he talite ‘a Tonga mo Pilitānia ko ‘eni’, ko hono ‘uhinga faka-Pilitānia’ ko e pule’i mo malu’i pe controlled and protected. Pea ko e me’a totonu ia ne hoko’. ‘Oku lave leva ‘a e ‘ātikolo ko ‘eni ki he ‘aho ne  laka atu ai  ‘a e Komisiona Makehe ‘a Pilitānia ‘i Tonga  ‘i Mē 1900 tangata ‘eni Basil Thompson mo ha’ane kau ka’ate mo ha kau ‘ofisiale Pilitānia kuo nau ‘osi fakamahafu ki Palasi ‘o fekau ki he Tu’i II ka ‘ikai ke ne fakamo’oni ki he talite ke pule’i ‘e Pilitānia ‘a hono fakalele ‘o e pule’anga Tonga’ tautefito ki he Potungāue ki Muli mo e Fakamaau’anga’ pea ‘e pau ke fakamālohi’i ‘e Pilinitānia ‘a hono fakahoko e talite’ pea ko e me’a ia ne iku ki ia’. 

Supreme Court overturns appeal, orders former Customs Ministry CEO to be extradited to Fiji

By
Philip Cass
-

The Supreme Court has ordered that Kulu ‘Anisi Bloomfield, the former CEO of Tonga’s Ministry of Customs and Revenue, be extradited to Fiji to face trial.

Bloomfield, from Neiafu, resigned from his position to stand for  the Vava’u 15 constituency in the November 2017 election.

He was Head of Secretariat Oceania Customs Organisation based in Suva when the crimes of which he is accused were committed.

The Fijian government had asked that Bloomfield be returned to Fiji to be tried for the alleged offences which occurred between 2011 and 2014.

A warrant for his arrest was issued in the Magistrate Court of Fiji on March 27, 2018.

He was accused of using a credit card belonging to the Oceania Customs Organisation to make unauthorized purchases with intent to dishonestly obtain a sum of $161,506.66 from the OCO.

He was also charged with dishonestly obtaining computer equipment belonging to the Oceania Custom Organisation worth $17,757.77.

The application for extradiction was heard before the Magistrate’s Court on February 17, 2020. The Principal Magistrate ruled that Bloomfield be returned to Fiji for trial only on the theft charge.

He held that the charge of dishonesty could not be proceeded with because the alleged offence was committed at a time when the accused had diplomatic immunity because of his position with the Oceania Custom Organisation.

Bloomfield appealed against the ruling on the grounds that he also had diplomatic immunity at the time the alleged offence was committed.

At the same time the Tongan government appealed the decision on the grounds that the matter of diplomatic immunity was matter for the court in Fiji.

The government argued that all that the Magistrate only had to be satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to commit the accused for trial.

Judge Niu said the Magistrate’s decision regarding diplomatic immunity was wrong.

“I uphold the appeal of the Crown and I order that the accused is committed to be returned to Fiji to be tried on both the two offences of which he has been charged,” the Judge said.

Tonga’s border remains closed until July 8 as PM extends state of emergency

By
Kalino Latu
-

Tonga border is expected to remain closed to non-essential travel until next month.

The government has extended its Covid-19 state of emergency until the 8th of July subject to further review.

A nightly curfew now starts at 12am until 5am, while funeral gatherings shall be restricted to a total of 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors with an authorised officer to be present throughout.

Social distancing restriction remains in place.

The Prime Minister said the new announcement for the Covid-19 measure was intended to “prevent or minimise risk and the loss of human life to Covid-19.”

“Therefore I hereby renew the declaration of State of Emergency that was made on 15 May.”

The statement from the Prime Minister’s office comes amidst calls from Tongans stranded overseas for the government to lift its border restrictions.

About more than 4,000 Tongans were currently stranded overseas.

This included a 29-strong squad who have been sleeping on the floor of an Auckland church in New Zealand and surviving off donated food.

The team from Ha’apai arrived in New Zealand on 3 March, intending to spend a month playing club rugby teams around the North Island, before heading home, the Guardian reports.

As Kaniva News reported last week Dr Collin Tukuitonga, who is Associate Dean Pacific at the University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences said Tonga should be a priority in re-opening quarantine free travel.

He said the risk of introducing Covid-19 into New Zealand from the islands was near-zero and when New Zealand had been Covid-19-free for 28 days, the risk to the islands was near zero.

The kingdom has no confirmed cases of covid-19 to date.

Tonga joins voices raised in support of besieged USP Vice Chancellor, Solomons calls for regional representatives to “wake up”

By
Philip Cass
-

Tonga has joined calls by a number of Pacific nations in calling on USP’s pro-Vice Chancellor from pursuing an investigation of Vice Chancellor Pal  Ahluwalia.

The dispute between the two Vice Chancellors has torn the USP campus apart, with many staff and students supporting professor Ahluwalia.

Ahluwalia, a Canadian, uncovered serious governance and management anomalies which led to an external audit by accountants BDO.

As detailed in our accompanying story, this uncovered irregular governance and management issues that predated the current vice-chancellor’s appointment.

Writing in the Samoa Observer, Soli Wilson reported that Professor Ahluwalia was then told by the pro-Vice Chancellor Winston Thompson that he was now being investigated for misconduct.

Professor Ahluwalia has since been suspended.

More than 500 members at USP have signed a petition in support of Professor Ahluwalia, USP Student and Staff Association representative Elizabeth Reade Fong said.

“The biggest victims are the students,” Fong said.

“The council must intervene on students’ behalf and Thompson.”

Islands Business reported that Nauru’s President Lionel Aingimea has called for an end to the attempts to remove Professor Ahluwalia.

He said the moves had been  instigated by Fiji-based members of the university council.

“As the incoming Chancellor of the USP and one of the heads of state who own the University as well as being an alumnus, I am disturbed at the manner in which this matter is being played out,” President Aingimea wrote in a letter that was circulated to all USP  Council members.

Samoa’s Minister of Education has asked for the investigation of Professor Ahluwalia to be dropped.

And that country’s Deputy Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa  has urged the Member Countries of the USP, especially those in Council, to be more vigilant about their role on Council and take responsibilities for the saga in Fiji.

“Hopefully with this issue, the regional representation might wake up and pay some attention to what is happening at USP,” she said.

The main points

  • Tonga has joined calls by a number of Pacific nations in calling on USP’s pro-vice chancellor from pursuing an investigation of Vice Chancellor Pal
  • The dispute between the two Vice Chancellors has torn the USP campus part, with many staff and students supporting professor Ahluwalia.

For more information

USP students, staff call on council to drop ‘harassment’ of Ahluwalia

Nauru President calls for an end to USP saga

Deputy P.M. says decision of U.S.P. Executive Committee “nonsense”

Kaniva mediawatch: What media around the world are saying about Tonga this week

By
Kaniva Staff
-

Tongan borders to open?

The Tongan government will announced its decision on whether to open its borders on Friday.

Tonga has remained free of Covid-29.

Tongans and others who work in Tonga stuck overseas are asking for special flights to take them back into the Kingdom. However, that has been delayed because government has stated it is not ready to cater for the influx of returning passengers.

Some Pacific countries have already started flying their own back into the countries, like Vanuatu, Solomons, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Cook Islands and Fiji.

Tongan workers head for warmer climes

Tongan seasonal workers in Australia have begun migrating to farms in the warmer parts of Australia as the winter season reduces harvests and working hours.

A seasonal worker in Tasmania told Matangi Tonga that more than 30 Tongans were set to migrate to Queensland this weekend.

The Australian government changed the rules governing seasonal workers during the Coronavirus pandemic to accommodate seasonal workers who were unable to return home because of the border closure.

The National Secretary of The Australian Workers’ Union, Daniel Walton said that during the coronavirus lockdown some Tongan workers were completely unemployed and relied on local assistance.

Chinese doctor honoured

A Chinese doctor is being inducted into the ‘Atenisi Institute’s Hall of Critics at a ceremony in Nuku’alofa tonight.

Ai Fen, the head of Emergency Services at Wuhan Central Hospital, was reportedly prevented by authorities from alerting the world about the severity of the Covid-19 outbreak as early as December.

The university dean at ‘Atenisi, Michael Horowitz, said the institute was the first in the world to award Dr Fen.

Dr Horowitz said Dr Fen was regarded as a national hero in China because of her courage and bravery to hold the government to account.

Prizewinning photo taken in Tonga

Brisbane underwater photographer Jasmine Carey has won the grand prize of $172,140 in the Hamdan International Photography award with her image of a humpback whale and its two-week old calf off the coast of Tonga.

The photograph was taken Vava’u in Tonga on July 30, 2019.

The calf was thought to be about two weeks old.

Nurses’ choir praised

World Health Organisation Assembly Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus has  praised nurses from Vaiola Hospital in Nuku’alofa who were due to sing at a WHO event in Switzerland.

“When we originally planned this year’s World Health Assembly, we invited that choir from Tonga — a choir of nurses and midwives — to perform and to mark the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.”

“COVID-19 has deprived us of that privilege,” the Director General said.

The nurses group had sung for the WHO leader during his visit to Pacific last year, sparking the invitation.

The nurses choir had prepared a special song for the Director General, but it’s keeping the details under wraps until they can perform it.

“We are keeping on to the song and waiting on a good time to release it,” she said.

Author “could have done better”

The Dutch historian and author Rutger Bregman has responded to backlash from the Pacific Islander community about his re-telling of a Tongan story, saying that he “could have done better”.

As reported in Kaniva News, Bregman’s latest book, Humankind: A Hopeful History, contains the story of six Tongan boys who were shipwrecked on ‘Ata Island for 15 months, before being rescued by an Australian sea captain in 1966.

An extract of the story garnered millions of readers when it was published by The Guardian and result in a film deal for the story.

Mr Bregman said criticisms of him not including the spirituality, culture, and the background of the boys as reasons why they survived so long on the island were fair.

Great Britain’s motives for Treaty of Friendship were far from pure and had far more to do with Germany than Tonga

By
Philip Cass
-

This week Tongans enjoyed a public holiday to mark Emancipation Day.

The event marks the abolition of serfdom by King George Tupou I on June 4, 1862. It also marks the day the series of Treaties of Friendship with Britain expired on June 4, 1970.

The original Treaty – and the Constitution that preceded it – have  been regarded by many historians as being key to protecting  the kingdom’s sovereignty.

The reality was far more complex and while Tonga and the United Kingdom would retain close ties, Tonga’s first Treaty was actually signed with Germany.

Britain’s motives for befriending the tiny island kingdom were not exactly pure. The British had been reluctant to become involved  in the Pacific and had resisted calls for protection  by the Hawai’ian royal family, which feared – correctly – that their kingdom would  be overrun  by the Americans.

They had also held out for as long as possible against entreaties by Cakobau, who ruled the eastern confederacy of Viti Levu, from any involvement in Fiji. Instead, the British government spent a lot of time batting away demands by the Australian colonies (and later New Zealand) to be allowed to seize this or that island. Indeed historian David McIntyre has argued that the Treaty of Friendship kept “Tonga from the clutches of New Zealand.”

What finally drove the British to act in the Pacific was the arrival of the Germans. By the end of the 19th century, Germany had influence in Tonga and had colonies in Samoa, German New Guinea and Micronesia, all linked by sea lanes to Germany’s colony in Tsingtao, China. The Germans were politically astute and worked hard to establish good relationships with King George Tupou I.

In 1875 Tupou I promulgated  a constitution influenced to a degree  by the Methodist missionary (and later Prime Minister) Shirley Baker which established Tonga as an independent state and brought an end to 30 years of civil war.

It has been argued that the constitution helped prevent Tonga being colonised  because neither the European powers  or the United States could justify invading the kingdom on the grounds of saving the locals from oppression. After all, the constitution guaranteed the right to life, property, equality and freedom of expression. However, Britain was initially reluctant to recognise Tonga’s status, but the Germans were keen to establish a foothold  and treated the kingdom, diplomatically at least, as an equal.

In 1876, a year after the Constitution was issued, Tonga signed a treaty of friendship with Germany. As New Zealand historian James Baade writes, Baker saw the German treaty as pivotal:

“ ‘Should the German Empire make such a treaty with Tonga,’ he wrote, ‘it will be a stepping stone of the acknowledgement of Tonga by other great Powers.’ . . . . at the 1877 ratification ceremony for the German treaty [the king said]: ‘in consequence of the ratification of the Treaty Tonga has become a nation amongst the family of nations […] So it is a full country today . . . .it has lifted up Tonga to the standard of the other countries.”

When Crown Prince Tevita ‘Unga, died in New Zealand in May 1880, his body was returned to Tonga on the German frigate SMS Nautilus. German marines acted as pallbearers and the Nautilus fired a salute during the funeral.

Britain therefore began to engage with Tonga and signed the first of a series of “treaties of friendship” between the two kingdoms in 1897. The last would not be signed until 1968, only two years before Tonga fully regained its independence.  The treaties gave Great Britain control of many government (or, in reality, royal) decision making on issues such as the kingdom’s relations with other countries. The 1879 Treaty, declared that:

“there shall be perpetual peace and friendship between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, her heirs and successors, and His Majesty the King of Tonga, his heirs and successors, and between their respective dominions and subjects.”

It also gave Great Britain jurisdiction over British subjects in Tonga, in exchange for the granting of ‘rights, privileges and immunities’ for Tongan subjects in British territories as ‘subjects of the most favoured nation.’

The 1900 Treaty of Friendship, signed by King George Tupou II, clearly reflected the British concern with Germany.

The British were deeply worried about Tongan harbours being used as German naval bases which could threaten Fiji. The 1900 treaty gave the British access to Tongan harbours in return for British protection from ‘any hostile attacks.’ Further, it stated:

“Her Majesty [Queen Victoria] will at all times to the utmost of her power take whatever steps may be necessary to protect the Government and territory of Tonga from any external hostile attacks; and territory of Tonga from any external hostile attacks; and for this or similar purposes Her Majesty’s officers shall at all times have free access to the waters and harbours of Tonga; and the King of Tonga hereby agrees to lease to Her Majesty a suitable site or sites in any harbour or harbours in Tonga for the purposes of establishing a station or stations for the coaling and repair of Her Majesty’s ships, and for the erection of any military works for fortification which may be necessary or desirable for the protection of such stations, and will at all times to the utmost of His power co-operate with and aid Her Majesty’s naval or military forces in defence of such station or stations.”

In the end there was never any military threat to Fiji or Tonga  by the Germans, although when war broke out in 1914, the British agent in Tonga was alarmed by the level of pro-German sentiment in the kingdom. The royal palace had  been built by the German company Goddefroy and German goods predominated in the shops. It was clear that while Britain had been concerned to secure favourable terms to assert her military presence in the Islands, she had not worked quite as hard at ensuring her commercial dominance in some places.

The German navy had virtually no presence in the Pacific, except when it was sailing to and from its base in China. An unarmed exploration vessel and a small warship were assigned to what was grandly called the Australian station, but which actually covered the entire central Pacific. Neither ship arrived before the war  began.

The main points

  • This week Tongans enjoyed a public holiday to mark Emancipation Day.
  • The event marks the abolition of serfdom by King George Tupou I on June 4, 1862. It also marks the day the Treaty of Friendship with Britain expired on June 4, 1970.

For more information

David McIntyre. Winding up the British Empire in the Pacific Islands. Oxford University Press, 2014.

James Baade. Germans in Tonga 1855-1960.

Amanda Lee (2019) Tau: A brief history of the Tongan military from the late nineteenth century to the present. MA thesis. University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2019.

Heather Devere, Simon Mark & Jane Verbitsky. ‘The language of friendship in international treaties.’ Paper presented to the IXth Congress of the French Association of Political Science, Toulouse, 2007.

 

Banned Utah-based lawyer wants sitting MPs replaced by women, says kingdom’s democracy reforms a “laughing matter”

By
Kalino Latu
-

A US-based Tongan lawyer who was banned from entering the kingdom in 1992, claims sitting MPs should be replaced by women because they might have  better ideas.

Filia Uipi, who lives in Salt Lake City, told an online conference hosted by Kele’a Voice that Tonga’s democracy was unbalanced and new people needed to be elected to Parliament before voters could expect any changes.

Uipi said people complained about politics, but they kept electing the same MPs.

“Let’s try women,” he said.

He said MPs should have the ability to help reduce the economic disparity between the lower and the upper echelons.

He said there were huge financial troubles in Tonga which recalled the importance of having in the leadership people who lived with Christian core values.

He said the Late ‘Akilisi Pohiva advocated this.

Uipi said Tonga’s 2010 democratic reform was a “laughing matter” and that democracy never happened.

“Stupid”

He said the democratic reforms were “stupid” in the eyes of the world.

He said the system allowed nine noble members to represent 33 members of the king’s nobility while only 17 people were elected to represent about 100,000 people.

He wanted the people to change their minds about what was regarded as normal.

“It has been said ‘blessed are the humbles for they shall inherit the land’,” Uipi said.

“It’s no longer that. It is now ‘Blessed are the humbles for they shall be stamped on.’ ”

He said the late president of the Free Wesleyan Church, Dr ‘Amanaki Havea and the Late Bishop Patelesio Finau of the Catholic Church as well as Rev Siupeli Taliai were advocates of political change in Tonga. They were people who have core values.

Uipi said the American Constitution was based on human rights principles and said people should be free and happy.

He said this should be the basis of Tonga’s democracy in the future.

When people were oppressed they tried to change their situation.

“We cannot stay in the status quo,” Uipi said.

“The conservatives tried to hold on to the culture and traditions, but our youth and children need change.

“It is the survival of the fittest

“Let’s look at the French Revolution. Destroyed.

“The Tsar of Russia. Same thing.

“Look at the Shah of Iran. Where are they? They have gone.

“Tonga needs to move with the chariot of time.

“If not than the business people’s saying will be true. The worst is set to come. I hope not.”

Uipi was not allowed to disembark from his aircraft when he arrived in Tonga in 1992 to speak at the first ever meeting organised by the Late ‘Akilisi Pohiva and the Democrats.

The meeting was known as the Convention on Democracy and Constitution.

Papers read during the convention are regarded as the basis of the later push for democracy in Tonga which came to fruition in the 2010 political reforms.

The main points

  • A US-based Tongan lawyer who was banned from entering the kingdom in 1992, claims sitting MPs should be replaced by women because they might have better ideas.
  • Filia Uipi, who lives in in Salt Lake City, told an online conference hosted by Kele’a Voice that Tonga’s democracy was unbalanced and new people needed to be elected to Parliament before voters could expect any changes.
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